Many women have parts of their bodies that they are unhappy with, making them have an insecure feeling when wearing certain clothing. Foundation garments have been worn for a very long time to address this problem. Better known today as shapewear, these foundation garments include body briefs, bodysuits, brassieres, control top panty hose, control panties, control briefs, control slips, control camisoles, control tanks, hip slips, waist shapers, corsets, garter belts, and girdles.
Shapewear are undergarments designed to change the wearer's shape, producing a more fashionable, slim figure and to enhance the natural curves of the body. Take for example control briefs. They are designed to lift a wearer's bottom, flatten the tummy and add shape and form to the thighs.
Garments, including shapewear, are typically made in standard sizes (e.g., small (S), medium (M), large (L), extra-large (XL), etc. or 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, etc.), each of which is intended to fit a group of wearers having similar body shapes and sizes. Within any size group, the intended wearers may nevertheless have somewhat different heights, weights, bone structure, and/or muscle tone. As a result, a garment constructed in accordance with a standard size system cannot comfortably fit all wearers in the same size group. This is particularly true when the garments are designed to fit closely on the wearers' bodies.
Custom tailoring is a conventional technique used to fit a garment to a specific wearer by first measuring the wearer, and then making, or modifying, the garment according to the measurement. Although custom tailoring can be employed to address the above-mentioned problem, the cost and effort associated with custom tailoring makes it impractical to supply to the mass market.